Device to device (D2D) communication between wireless devices has gained more and more interest. In third generation partnership project (3GPP) networks, D2D devices are user devices (also referred to as user equipments or UEs) configured to be able to communicate directly with other devices without sending data through a network. A typical commercial use case could be a device receiving advertisements directly from another device. A typical public safety use case for public safety would be direct group—or unicast communication between firefighters. Some D2D UEs may communicate with a network base station, while other D2D UEs may communicate directly with other D2D devices. In some cases, some D2D UEs will be positioned outside the coverage range of a network base station, and these UEs may synchronize to D2D UEs that are within the coverage range of the network, as such D2D UEs can use a network base station as a synchronization reference.